Hi,

I was reading through the dog house at this and that, I find it interesting about people's opinions and etc etc. I came across this older thread and thought I'd voice mine. The people that have posted here have all condemned the police officer for the incident after hearing a report from the news media, who got it from the owner. Regardless of what type of dog it is, police officers have the duty to protect people and lives. They can't do that with a 40lbs (just a guess) dog attacking them. If the dog came running up to the officer and she shot, that is one thing. If the dog was barking and running up, and the police officer felt threatened, I believe there is just cause. It is sad the dog died. I agree, that perhaps officers should learn to read animal "body language" more, but there are instances that no matter how well you know animals, you can't read them properly. Put yourself in the police officers position for one moment. You are entering a potential hostile area (read: potential suicider and family), and you have available to you limited information. It is 2am and dark, you have no idea if there is a weapon (gun or otherwise) available to the potential suicider and how will that person react to your presence. All of a sudden a large dog bounds toward you with no warning (I don't know if there was or wasn't). Personally I don't know what I would do, I'm not a officer and don't have the training, however one of my best friends is an RCMP officer and tells me his stories. When you worried about someone who may have a gun or other weapons, you have to engaged in creating a safe area for yourself and your partner or backup that may arrive. (is how I understand it).

Once again I am sorry that the dog died, if the police officer was found to be in error, then s/he was in error and was wrong, but it just seems to me that posters have jumped to a conclusion about someone without potentially knowing what the situation was.

My 2 cents
Regards,
Lirathal
Nathan